Welcome to the NFL, rookie

Rookie center Jeff Faine saw the highs and lows of training camp.
By ROB MEYER
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
BEREA -- It's 80 degrees outside and you're in full pads and a helmet that makes it feel even hotter. Your teammates are eagerly waiting for your first mistake. Then you see 6-foot-3, 310 pound defensive lineman Alvin McKinley come at you, looking to put you through the grass.
And that's just on the field. You haven't even gotten to the locker room yet, where teammates will be waiting for you to maybe do their dirty laundry and take some verbal shots at you because you missed the first three days of training camp after a week-long holdout.
Welcome to the NFL, Mr. Rookie.
A marked man
That's basically what Browns' rookie center Jeff Faine's first day of training camp was like Tuesday at the team's training facility. Faine, expected to move directly into the starting lineup this season, was the 21st overall pick out of Notre Dame in this year's NFL Draft. He ended a one-week holdout Monday by signing a five-year deal worth more than $7 million.
Faine, along with long snapper Ryan Pontbriand, are the team's only two 2003 draft picks signed with the team. Five others are still unsigned. The team is attempting to get its draft picks to sign five-year deals with mixed success. Some of the players are reluctant to sign long-term deals.
"It feels really good to be out here," Faine said after the first half of practice Tuesday. "I got some limited action, some reps and overall it went pretty smoothly."
Most of that early action was with McKinley, who gave the rookie a run for his money in his first reps as a pro.
"That was my first rep as a pro, I expected it," Faine said of his battle with McKinley. "He jumped a snap on me and I didn't get back quick enough.
"I'm just glad to be out here, I felt like I was selling out my team [during the holdout]. It was a bad feeling, I wanted to be with my teammates."
Faine is unsure whether he will play in the team's scrimmage Saturday against the Buffalo Bills. But he is sure of one thing -- he will be the team's starting center on opening day against the Indianapolis Colts.
"I didn't come out of school early to sit the bench," Faine said.
Veteran's backing
Fourth-year offensive lineman Shaun O'Hara said Faine's biggest adjustment will be off the field.
"He has no experience with the business aspect of football," O'Hara said. "But now he has that aspect behind him, I'm sure that makes him happy."
O'Hara was then asked what he thought of the Faine vs. McKinley battle earlier in the day.
"Faine's a high profile pick, guys want to welcome him in," O'Hara said. "Sometimes it's with open arms, sometimes not."
O'Hara said he understands what Faine went through with McKinley. When O'Hara was a rookie in 2000, former Brown and current Minnesota Viking defensive tackle Darius Holland "welcomed" him to his first day of training camp, similar to McKinley and Faine.
"It was rough," O'Hara said. "I think Darius re-invented the head-slap that day."
A different playing field
During Tuesday's break between practices, veteran offensive lineman Barry Stokes said he couldn't wait to get his hands on Faine -- all in fun, of course.
"He's not going to get treated any different than any other rookie, just because he's Jeff Faine," Stokes said with a smile. "He's going to get some cold-tub action, or we'll being dropping weights on his head or something. You have to do it behind closed doors though, because now with those fraternities and people dying, you have to be careful."
Faine said he expects to be treated like a rookie. But he will let his play on the field do the talking.
"I want to be very productive as a first year player," he said. "I want to learn from my mistakes and not make excuses because I'm a rookie."
rmeyer@vindy.com